Havering Council Meeting, 21st January 2026 (part two)

After the break, opposition councillors came into the chamber like lions. They were transformed from being supine and acquiescent into decision-makers. It was all rather wonderful. It’s taken four years for them to fulfil their principal role of critically scrutinising the Administration. Better late than never.

What happened? HRA put an emergency motion on the Order Paper on the morning of the meeting,

This Council recommends a revision of the Mercury Land Holding business plan, to focus the company on delivering much needed affordable housing and driving down temporary accommodation costs, once it has reached its breakeven number of properties.¹(my emphasis)

Mercury Land Holdings is a multi-million pound company owned and controlled by Havering council. The motion calls for ‘revision’ of the business plan. There were no papers and councillors were asked to blindly trust the Administration.

But was it an emergency?

On the 3^rdSeptember, 2025 this Conservative motion was passed,

This Council recommends a revision of the Mercury Land Holdings business plan, to focus the company on delivering much needed social homes and driving down temporary accommodation costs. (my emphasis).²

HRA’s emergency motion was nonsense. They’ve had five months to create a new business plan for Mercury Land Holdings which pivots towards social housing.

The charge was led by Keith Prince (59 minutes)³ who described the emergency motion as an ‘abuse of Council’. I thought that was restrained. Ray Morgon said that social housing wasn’t viable. He’s very trusting. That is the patter used by building companies to avoid social housing.

The legal officer dived in and firmly said the motion was an emergency because a budget has to be written shortly. He didn’t remark it was a self-inflicted wound.

This so-called emergency motion was a disgrace. Ray Morgon has been badly let down by Graham Williamson who should have had urgent meetings during September 2025 to discuss the consequences of the motion.⁴ He always seems flaky and now this is proof that he is disengaged from his responsibilities.

The meeting ended at 11:15 with a shambolic ‘singing’ of the National Anthem.

Notes

1 (Public Pack)SUPPLEMENTARY AGENDA Agenda Supplement for Council, 21/01/2026 19:30

2 “….the motion by the Conservative Group was AGREED as the substantive motion by 25 votes to 22 (see division 4)”. (Public Pack)Minutes Document for Council, 03/09/2025 19:30

3 Annotator Player times relate to this webcast. Keith had support from Michael White, John Tyler, Martin Goode, and David Taylor. David made the initial passionate speech, in September 2025, which triggered the overwhelming Opposition vote. Interestingly the only councillor lawyer, Keith Darvill, was silent. Why?

4 The meeting ended in stalemate with the motion being progressed to the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee where there will be papers available. This by-passes the desire that the motion be passed on ‘trust’. There maybe an emergency Council meeting to make a substantive decision.

Havering’s Council Meeting, 3rd September 2025 (part two)

Motions for Debate¹

Motions are the lifeblood of council meetings. Policy is discussed and scrutinised.² Havering’s housing crisis is caused by sky high house prices, student debt and massive deposits. Family networks and communities are broken up.

Two motions about housing were interesting. After Paul McGeary’s train crash answer about HMOs,³ the motion became redundant. Social Housing⁴ is sadly neglected. There are low profits for house-builders and politicians seem to dislike poor people. The Conservative motion was a wonderful surprise.

“This Council recommends a revision of the Mercury Land Holdings business plan, to focus the company on delivering much needed social homes and driving down temporary accommodation costs.” Motion B

David Taylor (1:40) made a brilliant speech. He explained the economics of social housing as a win-win for the council and those in need of secure, regulated housing. Additionally, the community benefits of social housing were discussed in compelling detail. David linked the HMO debate by showing social housing is vastly superior and a cheaper option than HMOs. David was supported whole-heartedly by Keith Darvill (1:50) and Frankie Walker (1:58). For Conservatives to get support from Labour is encouraging. It shows councillors aren’t party robots.

Graham Williamson ((1:45) doesn’t understand his brief. He spent five minutes trying to remember what officers had said prior to the council meeting. He failed. Likewise, finance defeats him. Graham doesn’t do his homework or, just doesn’t get it. Ray Morgon (2:01) winged it. He should have done a forensic analysis of David’s speech and responded.

The result? HRA lost the vote (2:07) but will it change policy? Meanwhile…..

3,000 residents languish on council housing waiting lists

Addendum: Singing the National Anthem

The Mayor (2:13) introduced the National Anthem – badly. This prefaced the worst singing I’ve ever heard. It destroyed the dignity of the National Anthem. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Notes

1 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Council, 03/09/2025 19:30 The Motions for debate The webcast is at Annotator Player All times for speeches refer to this webcast

2 Eight councillors were absent or, 14.5%. This is average and still shocks me.

3 HMOs = Housing of multiple occupancy see also Havering’s Council Meeting, 3rd September 2025 – Politics in Havering

4 What is social housing? – Shelter England

Havering Council Meeting, 23rd July 2025 (Part Two)

This Council commits to taking back control of development in Havering, through the creation and implementation of Neighbourhood Plans and Social Value shopping lists within the next six months, putting residents and local communities at the heart of planning. Motions.pdf

David Tayor (1hour)¹ embraces Havering’s prejudices. Flats are alien in Havering, blots on the landscape. Preventing the building of them is politically a ‘Good Thing’. His cunning plan is pressure groups, or Neighbourhood Plans. Only Keith Darvill (1:06) said social housing is desirable even though this implies flats (see Addendum). Keith didn’t mention high density flats as a solution for homelessness. Graham Williamson (1:11) speaking for HRA, said he was helpless…as usual. Jane Keane (1:17) worried about ‘taking back control’ but didn’t say why. Jason Frost (1:19) favoured councillors as ‘influencers’. Chris Wilkins (1:21) was unintelligible.

The homeless are collateral damage to Havering’s negativity. Graham Williamson remarked on the harm development meant for residents. Residents are voters in this context. Havering has a problem, the hidden homeless,² many of whom are ‘sofa-surfing’. And then there are adults stranded in the family home at 30 years old. There are many such men and women in Havering. Havering’s housing policies serve only homeowners or, in the case of 16 councillors, owners of buy-to-let houses.³

Havering is heartless for any but the wealthy.⁴

Addendum: Housing density

The most densely populated square kilometre in the country, for example, is London’s neighbourhood of Maida Vale, which hosts around 20,000 people. In contrast, some urban areas in Europe exceed 50,0000 people, peaking at 53,000 in Barcelona. And if we take the number of people living in apartments as an indicator of housing density, this accounts for almost half (48%) of Europe’s population, compared with just 17% in the UK. This suggests that there may be the potential to increase the density of our residential developments, which would enable more homes to be built without expanding the development footprint. Source: Should we increase housing density? | CBRE UK (my emphasis. This would protect the Green Belt)

Best Cynicism: Damian White ~ absent yet again

Notes

1 Annotator Player All timings related to this webcast There was 18% (10/55) absenteeism at this meeting, which is utterly disgraceful.

2 “Hidden” homelessness in the UK: evidence review – Office for National Statistics

3 This debate reflects the councillors that Havering has See Havering’s Councillors: The Democratic Deficit in Action – Politics in Havering

4 JSNA Demography Chapter 2023 v0.3A.pdf p54 HRA opposed housing selling for million plus. See New Homes for Sale | Kings Green, Upminster Development See also The sale of ‘Hall Lane Pitch and Putt’: Conservative Revenge? – Politics in Havering